The
PRR GG1 is a class of
electric locomotiveAn electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
s that was built for the
Pennsylvania RailroadThe Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
for use in the
northeastern United StatesThe Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
. A total of 140 GG1s were constructed by its designer
General ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
and the Pennsylvania's
Altoona WorksAltoona Works is a large railroad industrial complex in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to supply the railroad with locomotives, railroad cars and related equipment. For many years it was the largest railroad shop complex in the world.-History:In 1849, PRR...
from 1934 to 1943.
Initially introduced into service by the Pennsylvania in 1935, the GG1 was operated by its successor companies — Penn Central,
ConrailThe Consolidated Rail Corporation, commonly known as Conrail , was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeast U.S. between 1976 and 1999. The federal government created it to take over the potentially profitable lines of bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and...
and
AmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
. The last GG1 was retired from service by
New Jersey TransitThe New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
in 1983. Most of the GG1s were scrapped, but several were preserved by various museums around the United States.
Technical information
A GG1-class locomotive is 79 in 6 in (24.23 m) long and weighs 475000 pounds (215,456.4 kg). The
frameA locomotive frame is the structure that forms the backbone of the railway locomotive, giving it strength and supporting the superstructure elements such as a cab, boiler or bodywork. The vast majority of locomotives have had a frame structure of some kind...
of the locomotive was formed from two bridge-like
trussIn architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es joined together with
ball and socket jointA ball and socket joint is a joint in which the distal bone is capable of motion around an indefinite number of axes, which have one common center...
s. The body rested on the frame and was clad in
weldedWelding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
steel plates. The two cabs are in the middle of the locomotive, situated for greater crew safety in the event of a collision. A
pantographA pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
mounted on each end of the locomotive body was used to collect the 25
HzThe hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
, 11,000
VThe volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
alternating currentIn alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
(AC) from the
overhead linesOverhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
.
TransformerA transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...
s located between the two cabs stepped down the 11,000 V to the voltages needed for the
traction motorTraction motor refers to an electric motor providing the primary rotational torque of a machine, usually for conversion into linear motion ....
s and other electrical equipment on the engine.
Twelve 385 hp GEA-627-A1 traction motors drove the GG1's six 57 inches (144.8 cm) diameter
driving wheelOn a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons...
s on three axles using a
quill driveA quill drive is a mechanism that allows a drive shaft to shift its position relative to its driving shaft. It consists of a hollow driving shaft with a driven shaft inside it...
. Four unpowered
leadingThe leading wheel or leading axle of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the leading wheels are normally located in a truck...
/
trailingOn a steam locomotive, a trailing wheel or trailing axle is generally an unpowered wheel or axle located behind the driving wheels. The axle of the trailing wheels was usually located on a trailing truck...
wheels were mounted on each end of the locomotive. Using
Whyte notationThe Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early twentieth century encouraged by an editorial in American Engineer and Railroad Journal...
for
steam locomotiveA steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s, each frame is a
4-6-0Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This wheel arrangement became the second-most popular...
locomotive, which in the
Pennsylvania Railroad classification systemLocomotive classification on the Pennsylvania Railroad took several forms. Early on, steam locomotives were given single-letter classes. As the 26 letters were quickly assigned, that scheme was abandoned for a more complex system...
is a "G". The GG1 is composed of two such frames mounted back to back, 4-6-0+0-6-4. The
AAR wheel arrangementThe AAR wheel arrangement system is a method of classifying locomotive wheel arrangements that was developed by the Association of American Railroads. It is essentially a simplification of the European UIC classification, and it is widely used in North America to describe diesel and electric...
is 2-C+C-2 meaning two sets of three powered axles that are hinged together, with two unpowered axles on either side.
History
The mechanical design of the GG1 was based largely on the New Haven EP3, which had been borrowed earlier from the New Haven Railroad by the Pennsylvania to compare it to its current standard electric locomotive, the
P5aThe Pennsylvania Railroad's class P5 comprised 92 mixed-traffic electric locomotives constructed 1931–1935 by the PRR, Westinghouse and General Electric....
. In 1933, the Pennsylvania decided the replace its P5a locomotives and instructed both General Electric and
WestinghouseWestinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...
to design a prototype locomotive with the following specifications: a lighter
axle loadThe axle load of a wheeled vehicle is the total weight felt by the roadway for all wheels connected to a given axle. Viewed another way, it is the fraction of total vehicle weight resting on a given axle...
and more power than the P5a, be capable of at least 100 miles per hour (160.9 km/h), a streamlined body design and a central cab.
Both companies delivered their prototypes to the Pennsylvania in August 1934. General Electric submitted the GG1 and Westinghouse submitted the
R1The Pennsylvania Railroad's class R1 comprised a single prototype electric locomotive constructed in 1934 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, with the electrical equipment by Westinghouse....
. The R1 was essentially "little more than an elongated and more powerful version of the P5a" with an AAR wheel arrangement of 2-D-2. Both locomotives were tested for ten weeks in regular service between New York and Philadelphia and on a test track in
Claymont, DelawareClaymont is a census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 9,220 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. Because the R1's rigid wheelbase prevented it from negotiating sharp curves and some
railroad switchA railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....
es, the Pennsylvania chose the GG1 and ordered 57 additional locomotives on November 10, 1934. Of the 57, 14 were to be built entirely by
General ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
in
ErieErie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
and 18 at the
Altoona WorksAltoona Works is a large railroad industrial complex in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to supply the railroad with locomotives, railroad cars and related equipment. For many years it was the largest railroad shop complex in the world.-History:In 1849, PRR...
. The remaining locomotives were to be assembled in Altoona with electrical components from
WestinghouseWestinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...
in
East PittsburghEast Pittsburgh is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, about southeast of the confluence of the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers at Pittsburgh. The population in 1900 stood at 2,883, and in 1910, at 5,615. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 1,822, having fallen from...
and
chassisA chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...
from the
Baldwin Locomotive WorksThe Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
in
EddystoneEddystone is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,442 at the 2000 census.-Early history:The area at the mouth of Ridley Creek was first called "Tequirassy" by Native Americans. The land was owned by Olof Persson Stille, one of the early settlers from New...
.
On January 28, 1935, to mark the completion of the electric line from Washington, D.C to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the Pennsylvania ran a special train pulled by
PRR 4800PRR 4800, nicknamed "Old Rivets", is a GG1-class electric locomotive located at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, outside of Strasburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is the prototype GG1 and was originally numbered 4899. Built by General Electric in 1934, the locomotive competed against...
before it opened the line for revenue service on February 10. It made a round trip from D.C. to Philadelphia and, on its return trip, set a speed record by arriving back in D.C. 1 hour and 50 minutes after its departure from Philadelphia.
A Pennsylvania GG-1 was used to pull the funeral train of
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
from Washington D.C.'s
Union StationWashington Union Station is a train station and leisure destination visited by 32 million people each year in the center of Washington, D.C. The train station is served by Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter rail services as well as by Washington Metro subway trains and local buses...
to New York City's
Pennsylvania StationPennsylvania Station—commonly known as Penn Station—is the major intercity train station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City. It is one of the busiest rail stations in the world, and a hub for inbound and outbound railroad traffic in New York City. The New York City Subway system also...
in 1945.
Styling of the prototype body shell is attributed to Westinghouse industrial designer Donald Roscoe Dohner. Subsequently the Pennsylvania hired
Raymond LoewyRaymond Loewy was an industrial designer, and the first to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, on October 31, 1949. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States...
to "enhance the GG1's aesthetics". Loewy recommended the use of a smooth, welded body instead of
rivetA rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...
ed one used in the prototype. Loewy also added five gold
pinstripePin striping is the application of a very thin line of paint or other material called a pin stripe, and is generally used for decoration. Freehand pin stripers use a specialty brush known as a pinstriping brush...
s and a Brunswick green paint scheme. The paint scheme was changed to
Tuscan redTuscan red is a shade of red that was used on the passenger cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, as well as on the PRR TrucTrailers. It also was used extensively by the New South Wales Government Railways in Australia, in a similar fashion to the PRR. The Canadian Pacific Railway used it historically...
in 1952 and the pinstripes were simplified to single stripe and large red
keystoneA keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
s were added in 1955.
Timetable speed limit for the GG1 was 80 mph until 1967-68 when it was raised to 100 mph for a year or two; when the Metroliner cars were being overhauled in the late 1970s GG1s were again allowed 100 mph when pulling Amfleet cars on trains scheduled to run 224.6 miles from New York to Washington in 3 hrs 20-25 minutes.
Incidents
On January 15, 1953,
PRR 4876PRR 4876 is a GG1-class electric locomotive located at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It was built in 1939 and was involved in the only accident to befall a GG1. In 1953, the locomotive overran the buffer stop and crashed into Union Station in Washington, D.C. after...
headed up Train 173, the
FederalThe Federal Express was an overnight named passenger train run by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between Washington, DC's Union Station and Boston, Massachusetts's South Station from 1912 to 1971. Train numbers on both railroads were 172 northbound and...
, from
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
to Washington, D.C. The train passed a
signalA signal is a mechanical or electrical device erected beside a railway line to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead to train/engine drivers. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly...
2.1 miles (3.4 km) north of
Union StationWashington Union Station is a train station and leisure destination visited by 32 million people each year in the center of Washington, D.C. The train station is served by Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter rail services as well as by Washington Metro subway trains and local buses...
traveling between 60 and 70 mph (96.6 and 112.7 km/h) and the engineer decreased the throttle and started applying the brakes in preparation for entering the station. When the engineer realized that the train was not slowing down, and applying the
emergency brakeOn trains, the expression emergency brake has several meanings:* The maximum brake force available to the driver/engineer from his conventional braking system, usually operated by taking the brake handle to its furthest postion, through a gate mechanism, or by pushing a separate plunger in the cab*...
had no effect, he proceeded to sound the engine's horn. A
signalmanA signalman or signaller is an employee of a railway transport network who operates the points and signals from a signal box in order to control the movement of trains.- History :...
, on hearing the horn and noting the excessive speed of the 4876, phoned ahead to the
station masterThe station master was the person in charge of railway stations, in the United Kingdom and some other countries, before the modern age. He would manage the other station employees and would have responsibility for safety and the efficient running of the station...
's office. 4876 negotiated several
switchesA railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....
without derailing, at speeds well over the safe speed limits and entered the station at around 35 to 40 mph (15.6 to 17.9 ). The train rammed the
buffer stopA buffer stop or bumper is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track.The design of the buffer stop is dependent in part upon the kind of couplings that the railway uses, since the coupling gear is the first part of the vehicle that the buffer stop...
s, continued through the station master's office and into the
concourseA concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space.-Examples:Examples of concourses include:* Meeting halls* Universities* Railway stations...
. The weight of 4876 caused it to fall through the floor and into the station's basement. A temporary floor was erected over the engine, and the hole it created, for the inauguration of
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
. 4876 was eventually dismantled and removed from the basement. It was reassembled in Altoona, before being put back into service.
The accident was determined to have been caused by an "angle cock", a valve on the front and rear of a locomotive and rail cars used in the train's airbraking system, on the rear of the third car in the train that had inadvertently closed. The handle of the angle cock had been improperly placed and had come into contact with the bottom of the car. Once it was closed, the brakes on all the cars behind the closed valve would not have been able to be applied.
The only major
breakdownA vehicle breakdown is the operational failure of a motor vehicle in such a way that the underlying problem prevents the vehicle from being operated at all, or impedes the vehicle's operation so much, that it is very difficult or nearly impossible, or dangerous to operate, or else at risk of...
of the GG1 was caused by a blizzard which swept across the northeastern United States in February 1958. The storm put nearly half of the GG1s out of commission. Exceptionally fine snow, caused by the extreme low temperatures, was able to pass through the locomotives' air filters and into the electrical components. The snow then melted and
short circuitA short circuit in an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path, often where essentially no electrical impedance is encountered....
ed the components.
Disposition
When the Pennsylvania Railroad was merged with the
New York Central RailroadThe New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
in 1968, its fleet of GG1s was acquired by Penn Central. After its creation in 1971,
AmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
also inherited several GG1s. Amtrak intended to replace the GG1s in 1975 when it introduced the General Electric
E60The GE E60 is a C-C electric locomotive made by GE Transportation Systems. The E60's were based on existing locomotives designed for freight service...
. As the E60 never received clearance for speeds over 85 miles per hour (136.8 km/h), Amtrak imported a small, lightweight engine from
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
that became nicknamed the "Swedish swifty". Electro-Motive Diesel, then a part of
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, was licensed to build it in the United States and the "Swedish swifty" became the base of the
AEM-7The AEM-7 is a B-B electric locomotive that is used in the United States on the Northeast Corridor between Washington DC and Boston and the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. They were built by Electro-Motive Division from 1978 to 1988...
. With the AEM-7s on hand Amtrak was finally able to replace its GG1s. Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970 and its freight operations were assumed by the government-controlled Conrail. The last remaining GG1s in use were assigned to New Jersey Transit for its
North Jersey Coast LineThe North Jersey Coast Line is a New Jersey Transit commuter rail service operating between New York Penn Station or Hoboken Terminal and Bay Head, New Jersey...
between New York and
South AmboySouth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, on the Raritan Bay. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city population was 7,913.South Amboy, and Perth Amboy across the Raritan River, are collectively referred to as The Amboys...
and were, eventually, retired on October 29, 1983.
Of the 140 total GG1s built, 15 production locomotives and the prototype were preserved in museums:
- PRR 4800
PRR 4800, nicknamed "Old Rivets", is a GG1-class electric locomotive located at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, outside of Strasburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is the prototype GG1 and was originally numbered 4899. Built by General Electric in 1934, the locomotive competed against...
— Railroad Museum of PennsylvaniaThe Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.The museum is located on the east side of Strasburg along Pennsylvania Route 741...
, Strasburg, PennsylvaniaStrasburg is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It developed as a linear village along the Great Conestoga Road, stretching about two miles along path later known as the Strasburg Road...
(nicknamed "Old Rivets")
- PRR 4859
PRR 4859 is a GG1-class electric locomotive located in the Transportation Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. It was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors, Penn Central and Conrail. 4859 pulled the first electrically powered train from Philadelphia to Harrisburg on...
— Transportation CenterThe Harrisburg Transportation Center is a large railway station and transportation hub in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is located on the eastern edge of Downtown Harrisburg between the intersections of Aberdeen and Market Streets and 4th and Chestnut Streets...
, Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaHarrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
(designated Pennsylvania state electric locomotive in 1987)
- PRR 4876
PRR 4876 is a GG1-class electric locomotive located at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It was built in 1939 and was involved in the only accident to befall a GG1. In 1953, the locomotive overran the buffer stop and crashed into Union Station in Washington, D.C. after...
— B&O Railroad MuseumThe B&O Railroad Museum is a museum exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland, originally named the Baltimore & Ohio Transportation Museum when it opened on July 4, 1953. It has been called one of the most significant collections of railroad treasures in the world and has the...
, Baltimore, Maryland
- PRR 4877
PRR 4877, nicknamed "Big Red", is a GG1-class electric locomotive located in the New Jersey Transit station in Lebanon, New Jersey, United States.- Background :...
— [United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, Boonton, New Jersey (nicknamed "Big Red")
- PRR 4879 — United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey, Boonton, New Jersey
Boonton is a town in Morris County, New Jersey that was chartered in 1867. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 8,347. The town was originally called "Boone-Towne" in 1761 in honor of the Colonial Governor Thomas Boone....
- PRR 4882 — National New York Central Railroad Museum
The National New York Central Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Elkhart, Indiana that preserves the history of the New York Central Railroad....
, Elkhart, IndianaElkhart is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, northwest of Fort Wayne, east of Chicago, and north of Indianapolis...
(currently painted in Penn Central colors)
- PRR 4890 — National Railroad Museum
The National Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, in suburban Green Bay.The museum is one of the oldest institutions in the United States dedicated to preserving and interpreting the nation's railroad history. It was founded in 1956 by community volunteers in...
, Green Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
- PRR 4903 / Amtrak 4906 — Museum of the American Railroad
The Museum of the American Railroad, formerly known as the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, is located at 1105 Washington Street in Fair Park, Dallas, Texas. The museum has a large collection of steam, diesel and passenger railroad equipment...
, Dallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
(pulled Robert Kennedy's funeral trainA funeral train is a train specially chartered in order to carry a coffin or coffins to a resting place. Funeral trains today are often reserved for leaders and national heroes, as part of a state funeral, but in the past were sometimes the chief means of transporting coffins and mourners to...
along with GG1 4901 from New York to Washington on June 8, 1968).
- PRR 4909 / Amtrak 4932 — Leatherstocking Railway Museum, Cooperstown Junction, New York (purchased by The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford, a National Historic Landmark, , in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, USA, is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex...
)
- PRR 4913 / Amtrak 4913 — Railroaders Memorial Museum
The Railroaders Memorial Museum is a railroad museum in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The museum is dedicated to revealing, interpreting, commemorating and celebrating the significant contributions of railroaders and their families to American life and industry.Altoona is one of the hubs of the area's...
, Altoona, Pennsylvania-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...
- PRR 4917 / Amtrak 4934 — Leatherstocking Railway Museum, Cooperstown Junction, New York
- PRR 4918 / Amtrak 4916 — Museum of Transportation
The Museum of Transportation of the St. Louis County, Missouri, United States Parks Department is a museum located in the Greater St. Louis area. It was first founded in 1944 by a group of individuals dedicated to preserving the past and has a wide variety of vehicles from American history...
, St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
(was once the property of the Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
).
- PRR 4919 / Amtrak 4917 — Virginia Museum of Transportation
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A..- History :...
, Roanoke, VirginiaRoanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
- PRR 4927 / Amtrak 4939 — Illinois Railway Museum
The Illinois Railway Museum is the largest railroad museum in the United States and is located in Union, Illinois, northwest of Chicago...
, Union, IllinoisUnion is a village in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 580 at the 2010 census, up from 576 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Union is located at ....
- PRR 4933 / Amtrak 4926 — Central New York Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society, Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
. It has been cosmetically restored and is on display at the NYS Fairgrounds Historic Train Exhibit.
- PRR 4935 / Amtrak 4935 — Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, Pennsylvania (nicknamed "Blackjack")
In popular culture
During the mid-1930s, the art of
streamliningA streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...
became popular, especially with locomotives, as it conveyed a sense of speed. While other railroads were introducing streamlined trains, like the
Union PacificThe Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
's
M-10000The Union Pacific Railroad's M-10000, delivered to the railroad on February 12, 1934, at a cost of $230,997, was the first internal combustion engine, lightweight streamlined express passenger train in the United States. The carbodies and interior fittings were built by Pullman-Standard...
or the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy RailroadThe Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington or as the Q, the Burlington Route served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri,...
with the
ZephyrThe Pioneer Zephyr is a diesel-powered railroad train formed of railroad cars permanently articulated together with Jacobs bogies, built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad , commonly known as the Burlington...
, the Pennsylvania had the GG1. The GG1 has "shown up over the years in more advertisements and movie clips than any other locomotive." It was also featured in art calendars provided by the Pennsylvania, which were used to "promote its reputation in the public eye." It has appeared in the films
The ClockThe Clock is a 1945 film starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker and directed by Garland's future husband, Vincente Minnelli. This was Garland's first dramatic role as well as her first starring vehicle in which she did not sing.-Plot:...
in 1945,
Blast of Silence in 1961, the 1962 version of
The Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
, and
AvalonAvalon is a feature film directed by Barry Levinson. It is a mostly autobiographical story of a family of Polish-Jewish immigrants to the United States who settle in Baltimore, Maryland, at the beginning of the 20th century. The movie follows the family as they grow, become more prosperous, and...
in 1990 in the
liveryA livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
of the Pennsylvania. Two GG1s appear in the 1973 film
The Seven-UpsThe Seven-Ups is a 1973 American film released by 20th Century Fox. It stars Roy Scheider as a renegade policeman who is the leader of The Seven-Ups, a police team who uses dirty, unorthodox tactics to snare their quarry on charges leading to prison sentences of seven years or more upon...
—a black Penn Central locomotive and a silver, red and blue Amtrak locomotive. A Penn Central GG1 also appears in another 1973 film
The Last DetailThe Last Detail is a 1973 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby with a screenplay adapted by Robert Towne from a novel of the same name by Daryl Ponicsan. The film became known for its frequent use of profanity.-Plot:...
. PRR GG1 4821 appears briefly in the 1952 film
The Greatest Show on EarthThe Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture...
, pulling the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train into Philadelphia's Greenwich Yard, with the movie's director Cecil B. DeMille narrating the scene of their arrival. Two Penn Central GG1s train pulled
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
's
funeral trainA funeral train is a train specially chartered in order to carry a coffin or coffins to a resting place. Funeral trains today are often reserved for leaders and national heroes, as part of a state funeral, but in the past were sometimes the chief means of transporting coffins and mourners to...
on June 8, 1968.
The GG1 and the
Congressional were featured on a
postage stampA postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
as part of the
United States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
's
All Aboard! 20th Century American TrainsIn August 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a set of 33¢ postage stamps entitled All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains to "pay tribute to American industry and design, and specifically to the heritage of our railroads." Artist Ted Rose created five watercolor images depicting the...
set in 1999.
External links
- GG1: An American Classic, 1984 documentary on the last run of the GG1 at YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Anecdote about how fast the GG1 could actually go (WMV
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
file)